Spinning Wheels and Winders

Demonstrations on our working spinning wheels at open houses and special events are always popular.

Spinning wheels were invented around 1030 AD. Compared to spindles, they provided a faster way to spin the yarn needed for making cloth. In the pre-industrial era, spinning was an important “occupation” for girls and unmarried women, and “spinster” became synonymous with an unmarried woman. We have two spinning wheels: a great or walking wheel, and a Saxony treadle wheel. We also have a skein winder and a bobbin winder. All wheels and winders are displayed in the Bedroom.

Our great, or walking, wheel was donated to the Historic Restoration Trust of Nutley in 1977 by James Quinn of Passaic, New Jersey. It does not have a foot treadle but is turned with the right hand. Once it gets going, it will turn the spindle—attached to it by a string drive band—many times. The spinner holds the fiber to be spun in the other hand and slowly walks backward, drawing out the fiber before it is twisted. Then they step sideways and walk back toward the spindle as the spun yarn winds onto it. The most common type of fiber to spin on this wheel was cotton. The diameter of the wheel is 45”. The length of the bench is 44”. The wheel has a support 28-1/2” long and a 22” arm on the other side contains the spindle.

Another wheel is one that most people think of when they hear the words “spinning wheel.” Saxony wheels were used for spinning flax (or linen) or wool. The foot treadle allows the spinner to have both hands free. When flax is spun, the ends of fibers tend to stick out from the thread unless wetted while being spun. Keeping a bowl of water handy when spinning flax, the spinner can use one hand to draft the fibers and the other to wet and smooth them. This Saxony wheel has a 16” by 6-1/2” base and a wheel diameter of 19”. A bobbin is turned using the double-drive system and holds the spun yarn. Irwin Brill, a founding member of the Historic Restoration Trust, purchased our Saxony wheel for the Trust.

In April 1977, Dr. Gerald J. Piserchia and his wife, Iona, donated a Canadian-style bobbin winder and a skein winder. Dr. Piserchia was a pediatrician in Nutley for 40 years before retiring to Sun City West, Arizona. He was the school doctor in the Nutley Elementary Schools and chief of pediatrics at Clara Maas Regional Hospital. After retirement, Dr. Piserchia volunteered at the Adelante clinic until his death in 2009.

The Canadian-style bobbin winder has a large wheel and a horizontal bench with four legs supporting it. The diameter of the wheel is 30”. The bench has a length of 42”, and there are two 18” supports that hold a bobbin. Yarn was wound onto bobbins before it was used for weaving.

A skein winder is used to put spun yarn into skeins for storage.

In April 2021, this Saxony spinning wheel joined our collection. It was donated by Linda Humecky Villa of Nutley. The wheel had been in her family for more than five generations, starting in the early 1900's. It was originally owned by her great-great-grandmother (Mauer), whose family settled in a Pennsylvania Dutch community in Muncy, Pennsylvania.